Sport injuries

  

Those who are involved in sports should read this article….

Sports injuries are injuries that occur to athletes participating in sporting events. In many cases, these types of injuries are due to overuse of a part of the body when participating in a certain activity. For example, runner’s knee is a painful condition generally associated with running, while tennis elbow is a form of repetitive stress injury at the elbow. Other types of injuries can be caused by a hard contact with something. This can often cause a broken bone or torn ligament or tendon.

Injuries are a common occurrence in professional sports usually under a team leader’s supervision with close connection to the medical community. There are decisions made that could threaten a player’s long-term health for short term competitive gain.

TYPES

Sports injuries can be broadly classified as either traumatic or overuse injuries. Injury can be in the form of:

-  A bruise where damage to small blood vessels causes bleeding within the tissues.
-  A muscle strain is a small tear of muscle fibers and
-  A ligament sprain is a small tear of ligament tissue.

Overuse injuries

Exercises put repetitive stress on many parts of your body such as muscles, tendons, bursae, cartilage, bones and nerves which lead to micro-traumas — minor injuries that would heal with enough rest.  If you exercise regularly, make sure the body has ample time to recover, best within 48 hours. If micro-traumas is allowed to build up over time, you become prone to overuse injuries, such as:

+  Damage to elbow cartilage in athletes who throw.
+  Heel bursitis and stress fractures in runners.
+  Nerve entrapment in rowers.
+  Kneecap tendinitis in volleyball players.

Traumatic injuries

Traumatic injuries account for most injuries in contact sports such as soccer, rugby and basketball due to the dynamic and high collision nature of these sports. These injuries range from bruises and muscle strains, to fractures and head injuries.

To build strength and endurance from exercise, you must slowly and gradually push your body beyond its limits. Attempts to quick start can result in traumatic injuries such as sprains and fractures. Many seasonal sports injuries occur when athletes rush their reconditioning, overstretching their bones, joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles which are ignored in the off-season. In most instances, the experience in the initial five day period immediately following the traumatic incident is inflammation.


SIGNS & SYMPTOMS


Inflammation is characterized by pain, localized swelling, heat, redness and functional loss. To reduce swelling, apply ice for no longer than 20 mins.  Do not use heat immediately following an injury.  Apply ice intermittently every 4 hours for the first 1-2 days. When the inflammation has subsided, heat can then be applied for 20 min periods 2-3 times a day. For significant swelling, seek medical consultation right away.  Injuries with wrists and ankles may need x-rays to ensure the bones are not broken. 


MECHANISM

All of these traumatic injuries cause damage to the cells that make up the soft tissues. The dead and damaged cells release chemicals, which initiate an inflammatory response. Small blood vessels are damaged and opened up, producing bleeding within the tissue. In the body’s normal reaction, a small blood clot is formed in order to stop this bleeding and from this clot special cells (called fibroblasts) begin the healing process by laying down scar tissue. If the early inflammatory response is excessive, the healing process takes longer and a return to activity is delayed. Hence, it delays the overall healing process, both internally and externally.


PREVENTION


Injury can be minimised by doing an effective warm up exercise to rev up your pulse, to follow by sport specific dynamic stretches (stretches whilst moving). Currently, most fitness experts agree static stretching before exercise is futile and potentially damaging as by over-stretching, a muscle is being pulled hard, resulting in our body thinking it is at risk of being over-expanded and thus compensates by contracting instead. As such, warm-up techniques like light jog or sport-specific exercises are preferred. Before a game of tennis, few serves can increase the heart rate and blood flow to the muscles, warming up the body temperature ready for a full range of motions.


Doctors believe fatigue can be a contributing factor in sports injuries because it is more difficult for the body to protect itself when fatigued. As such stopping an activity at the first sign of fatigue can prevent sports related injuries.


RISK FACTORS 
In general, you are more likely to be injured if:

+  The duration, intensity or frequency of your exercise is excessive or rapidly increasing.
+  The terrain or weather conditions are extreme or irregular.
+  You use incorrect equipment including athletic shoes.
+  You have been injured in the past.
+  You smoke, drink or have led a sedentary lifestyle.
+ You have low aerobic or muscle endurance/low or imbalanced strength/ abnormal or imbalanced flexibility.
+  You have high arches in your feet, bowed legs or legs of different lengths.
+  You run with your heels landed first were found to be two times more likely to suffer from repetitive stress injuries than those who landed on the forefoot.  Such injuries include foot pain, shin splints and stress fractures. 


RECOVERY

It is difficult to return to competitive athletics after any serious injury, but knee injuries takes a lot longer to get over and often end a career.  Athletes in contact sports are 10 times more likely to have a serious knee injury than in non-contact sports, with knee injuries accounting for approximately a quarter of the injuries and generally taking two to three times longer to recovery than injuries to other parts of the body.

Leg bones are connected to the kneecap by four strong ligaments.  Around 60% of ligament tears are Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) - which provides stability and controls stress across the kneecap and keeps the knee from rotating too much or moving too far forward.  It does not heal on its own and requires a reconstruction surgery which usually take 6 to 9 months to recover.

Exercise with care. Enjoy the process and build a strong endurance gradually.

Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_injury